Streatham-Croydon RFC’s growing women’s side briefly went top of the league after a hard fought  victory against Havant.

November was a busy month for the team who also travelled overseas to Guernsey to take on a strong opposition who remain undefeated at home. The ladies still have everything still to play for as they continue to battle it out for league victory in to 2020, writes Amu Ellis-Thompson

Replenished to a strong squad after seeing key players return from injury, SCRFC ladies took on Heathfield & Waldron at home on November 4 and, although conceding tries when disorganised in defence, saw a convincing win with a full-time score of 40-17, and a strong farewell performance from stalwart centre Jenny Frost, who relocates to Australia.

Building on this success, another home game on  November 18 saw Streatham ladies go to the top of the table with a bonus point win after fighting back against a hitherto unbeaten Havant. With a strong offloading game and some penalty advantages, Havant were leading 12-10 at half time. Streatham came firing out of the blocks in the second half, with number eight Mel Laidlaw-Anderson breaking down the middle of the pitch and some strong line out steals from the forwards. 

Five tries scored between Elle Hawketts, Amy Allen, Charlie Uden and Alicia Wyke gave Streatham a much-needed bonus point and with a final score of 27-17 brought them to the top of the league table.

Travelling from Frant Road to Guernsey on  November 23, the ladies suffered a narrow 15-10 defeat against a strong home squad in a match played under the floodlights with a vocal Guernsey home crowd in support. 

A broken ankle saw the loss of outside centre Eleanor Hawketts and, despite quick steps around the defence from fly-half Millie Ross and pace from winger Amy Allen to score tries respectively, Streatham conceded several penalty points and were dominated by the Guernsey scrum.

On Sunday  (Dec  1) the ladies’ development side looked forward to hosting Faversham ladies, with a strong starting squad and full bench raring to go. 

This is followed by a return league fixture at home against London Irish on Saturday  December 7. This is part of a festive triple-header, with games also being played on the same day at home by Streatham-Croydon RFC men’s 1st XV and an evening fixture with a 5pm kick off by the new South London Stags RFC.